This blog is written by a landlord of commercial real estate in Gulfport, Mississippi. Seaway Business Park is a private company, and we watch over every aspect of our business park, which is a 29 acre commercial office and warehouse complex. We have family businesses in the area dating back to the 1940s. This gives us a unique perspective, and we are excited to share the tips and tricks we have learned over the years. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The Power of the Follow Up

Image courtesy of iosphere at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What’s
the most important action you should take after you receive a lead or take a
prospect on a tour?

Follow up.

It’s
really that simple.

We
could stop writing this blog post, pack up and head home. But if we were going to do that, we could
have just kept our thought to 140 characters and put it on Twitter.

Something
like: Most important action after a #CRE prospect lead or tour? Follow up!

See! We even have 60 characters to spare! And we probably found our title when we post
this on Twitter!

Okay,
so why is the follow up so important?

Because
without the follow up, you are playing the waiting game. And staring at the phone, waiting for it to
ring, is no fun. It’s also not
productive.

Following
up gives you all the information you need to know, both positive and negative.

Oftentimes,
a prospect says, “I’ll let you know either way.”

Guess
what? People do not like to deliver bad
news. And if the prospect is not going
to lease or buy your property, they are not going to call back.

So if
the prospect is going another direction, what’s the point of following up?

Where
do we begin?

Maybe
the prospect checked with corporate and there’s another 3 years left on their existing lease. They loved your property but
won’t start looking again for 2 years.
Wouldn’t that be useful information?

Maybe
you quoted a higher rental rate than the company has budgeted. Wouldn’t you like to at least have a chance
to take another look at your numbers to see if you can come to terms on a price
that will work for both parties?

Maybe
you offered a 7 year lease term and the company will not sign more than 5
years. Wouldn’t you like to have a
chance to come up with another proposal?

Maybe
the space you showed them was not configured the right way for their
needs. Wouldn’t you like to chance to
offer some sort of build-out/concessions to get the tenant/buyer into the
building?

The
list literally goes on and on.

Sure,
there are some situations that even with a follow up, there is nothing that
could have been done.

Once
you know this, you can use it to your advantage for the next prospect and either
rule them out or qualify them earlier in the process.
This saves everyone time and allows you to focus on a more productive
deal.

Some
people will say that they don’t want to bother the prospect and that if they’re
going to lease/buy the building anyways, what’s the point of following up too
early.

Our
answer: No reasonable company will decide not to sign a lease just because of a
simple phone call. If they were going to
lease/buy, they are still going to lease/buy.

We are
not advocating becoming a pest and calling someone several times per day. That might turn a prospect off.

But a
simple phone call is harmless.

And these
days, there are numerous ways to follow up.
You can make a phone call, leave a voicemail, send a text, send an
email, send a message on LinkedIn, etc.

Don’t
allow yourself to fall into the trap of assuming your prospect will call you
back.

Set a
reminder for yourself that if you haven’t heard from Prospect X by a certain
date, you will follow up to find out a status.

More
often than not, you’ll come away with good information. Even if it’s a negative response for your
building, it’s still good information,
because you can then focus on the next prospect.

Please feel free to leave questions and/or
comments. We read all of
them. Feel free to email us
atleasing@seawaybusinesspark.com. We provide office space for rent and
warehouse space for rent in Gulfport, Mississippi. If you need commercial real estate space
in our area, please give us a call at (228) 575-7731 or visit our website at www.seawaybusinesspark.com.